The top three finalists for World Car of the Year (WCOTY) were announced yesterday at the Geneva auto show. This year’s contenders for the overall award are the Ford Mustang, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and Volkswagen’s Passat. (It’s not clear whether the Passat in question is the boat-y North American model, or the sharper Euro-market model. —Ed) Other finalists for the top prize included the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer, Citroen C4 Cactus, Hyundai Genesis, Jeep Renegade, Mazda2, Mini Cooper 5-door, and Nissan Qashqai.

Awards are also presented in four secondary categories: in World Luxury Car, the finalists are the BMW i8, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class coupe, and Land Rover Range Rover Autobiography Black LWB. Rounding out the top 10 here were the BMW X6, Cadillac ATS Coupe and Escalade, Kia K900, Lexus NX and RC, and the Lincoln MKC.

World Performance Car contenders are the BMW M4/M3, Jaguar F-Type R coupe, and Mercedes-Benz AMG GT. Other performance car finalists were the Audi S1, S3 and TT, Bentley Continental GT Speed, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Challenger Hellcat, and Lexus RC-F.

In the World Green Car category, finalists are BMW i8, Mercedes-Benz S 500 plug-in hybrid and the Volkswagen Golf GTE. Other contenders were the Hyundai Tucson FCEV, and Volvo’s XC90 T8 Twin Engine hybrid.

Finally, the World Car Design of the Year award will go to one of the Citroen C4 Cactus, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Volvo XC90. Other design design finalists were the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer, and the Porsche Macan.

Winners in all five categories will be announced April 2, in a press conference held at the New York auto show. Three Canadian journalists—Michael Bettencourt, Michel Deslauriers and Mark Richardson—are among the 75 jurors who winnowed the long list down to the three finalists in each group.

2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class

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